
“I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty now that they’re gone. I guess I just miss my friend.” – Red in The Shawshank Redemption
I can’t talk to her. Her open mindness is mind boggling, and paradoxically her prejudices are just as impressive. She is smart as an old priest. She can talk her way out of a submarine. She will dazzle you with her knowledge of everything and will leave you for days digesting what you just found out about yourself when you met her, like a python would take its time digesting a big animal, slowly and painfully.
Eden would be the most comfortable at a gala party, the night of the Oscars, or some other party where everyone looks perfect and she would look the best, be the best and all people would gravitate around her. Eden would be perfectly comfortable living in a mud hut in the middle of Africa, with no running water, and predators roaming around at night. She would be competent and defend herself and those around her, and they would also gravitate around her. However it is difficult to locate her between those two ends of the spectrum.
Place a big world map on the wall and throw a dart at it with your eyes closed. You have one chance in three of hitting a country where she is at the moment or will be in the next year or so. She talks more languages than I can count and she can say anything she wants without saying a word. She could be a tour guide anywhere. However it is impossible to figure out her zip code to send a damn postcard.
I can only take Eden in small doses. She has too much that irritates me; too much that I love; too much that I want; too much that I wish everyone had. We will keep seeing each other every few months for just a few days because it seems we are always traveling in different directions. We lived in Miami, never at the same time. We go to Los Angeles, one then the other. We love visiting Europe, she did many times already, I am still about to go. She has been in Brazil, after I left. We rarely met because we were so different, and in the future will rarely find each other because we are becoming more alike.
It took me a minute to fall in love with her. Two hours, two cigars, and a bottle of red in a rooftop to remind myself that while loving Eden makes all sense, falling in love with her would be a disaster.
Eden, it hurts so much when we are together and never very close to each other. And I know I already miss you so much when you are far away and we are just one, and the same.




